The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image recorder having an upper and a lower unit which are openably hinged to each other and, more particularly, to a device for screening a photoconductive element unit of such an image recorder against external light when the upper unit is opened away from the lower unit.
Many modern copiers, laser printers, facsimile apparatuses and other electrophotographic image recorders are made up of an upper and a lower unit each being loaded with a different group of structural parts and elements. When the upper unit of this kind of image recorder is opened upward away from the lower unit for the purpose of supplying toner, or developer, or removing a jamming sheet, for example, various parts and elements of the image recorder, especially a photoconductive drum of a photoconductive element unit, is exposed to the outside. It is known that a photoconductive drum is susceptible to external light, i.e., the performance of the drum is degraded when its surface is continuously exposed to external light. Therefore, a problem with the image recorder having an upper unit which is openable away from the lower unit is that the photoconductive drum is directly exposed to external light that deteriorates the drum.